Local councils are considering reopening their emergency accomommdation for failed asylum seekers because of the rise in homeless would-be refugees on the streets, Trouw reports on Tuesday.

The closure of local council hostels was part of the general amnesty for some categories of asylum seekers and came into effect at the beginning of this year.
People whose claims for refugee status have been finally rejected are no longer allowed to live in refugee council or local government -funded accommodation. Instead they must cooperate with their return to their country of origin, justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said at the time.

Streets
But according to Trouw, some 50% of failed asylum seekers are now itinerant. ‘Hirsch Ballin thinks we should just let people rot if they end up on the streets,’ said Leeuwarden council official Roel Sluiter. ‘It’s easy for him to say, but he does not have to deal with humanity and city safety.’
John van Tilburg, from the local council body which deals with failed asylum seekers said 2,000 Somali nationals alone had been evicted from refugee centres last year.
‘Charities and private initiatives are under enormous pressure,’ he said. ‘The minister can proudly announce that his policy is successful and the emergency accommodation is disappearing. But he has closed his eyes to the new emergency situation.’
Hirsch Ballin told the paper he had no intention of changing his mind. ‘The cooperation of failed refugees with their return remains crucial,’ he said. ‘Offering accommodation only creates demand for it.’